29 May 2007

Good News-- Archbishop Burke Draws Sneers from Washington Post

His Grace has been unjustly maligned in the local press and by those dissenters who still choose to call themselves Catholic without actually following Church teachings. Now the national media gets involved. The article is available in full at the link, and is copyrighted, so excerpts only appear below. However, there are several snide insinuations and factual errors, as well as a complete credence given to anyone with a beef against the Archbishop. My comments are interspersed below in green.

ST. LOUIS -- When it comes to expressing his views of church values, Roman Catholic Archbishop Raymond Burke has a habit of making headlines, not always to the satisfaction of his flock. Note the immediate insinuation that the Archbishop is a headline seeker who is not on the same page as his flock, who are "unsatisfied". This might be true if his "flock" were non-Catholics and the media.

Burke memorably declared that he would deny Communion to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) because the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee supports abortion rights. He fought unsuccessfully to keep singer Sheryl Crow, who supports embryonic stem cell research, from headlining an April fundraiser for the Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, then resigned from the hospital foundation's board in protest.

Just this month, his office pushed St. Joseph's Academy, a Catholic high school, to renege on its invitation to Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to deliver this year's commencement address because of her abortion-rights position, even though McCaskill's daughter was in the graduating class. McCaskill was uninvited. McCaskill was uninvited by the School-- the only correct thing the school did in the whole affair. They should at least be given some credit for obeying the wishes of their local ordinary, unlike the arrogant board of the Cardinal Glennon Foundation.

At a time when significant segments of the Catholic population are breaking with the church on such issues as embryonic stem cell research and abortion, Burke is adhering to Vatican orthodoxy endorsed by Pope Benedict XVI -- and he expects the same of all Catholics in his archdiocese. This is a very dismissive way of saying, "Burke is a Catholic Bishop who does his job."

He tells his critics that he has "no agenda but the church." He tells his critics this? Or it is just a fact?

[...]

Burke "has relatively little concern for, let's say, negative reaction," said James Hitchcock, a professor at Saint Louis University who writes for the diocesan press and calls Burke "a very humble man in his personal life." As anyone who has met him can attest.

"He sees himself as being obliged to do what he thinks is the right thing, and he's not too concerned with strategy or how he might finesse the thing," Hitchcock said. "There are quite obviously deep divisions within the church. Archbishop Burke is one bishop who has chosen to confront them directly, as opposed to other bishops who may prefer to minimize them." One might say that St. John Fisher filled this role when other English Bishops of the time were more "pastoral".

Following the dispute over Crow and the hospital benefit, Geri Redden, who describes herself as a pro-choice former Catholic, said she considers Burke "archaic and kind of an embarrassment. He seems to think he is back in the old days when he could really tell people how to live their lives." What is it about anti-Catholics and "progressive Catholics" that they frame everything in terms of time? Always the criticism is that the faithful Catholic is stuck in the "past", or is medieval, or such rot. Just as the Pope "seeks to turn back the clock" by enlarging the availability of the Traditional Mass.

Burke, 58, is a canon specialist who warns that Harry Potter books are "irreligious." He took a strong stand last year against a Missouri constitutional amendment designed to protect embryonic stem cell research, a high-profile political fight that pitted social conservatives against the likes of Crow, actor Michael J. Fox and former senator John C. Danforth (R-Mo.). He called it a moral crisis for Missouri and said taxpayer money would be spent on "intrinsically immoral research." As has been, and is being, proven.

[...]

The leaders of St. Stanislaus Kostka church know Burke's wrath. Oooooh. They ran afoul of the archbishop by insisting that their property remain independent of diocesan control, as it has for decades. Burke responded by evicting the church from the diocese and excommunicating the parish leadership, which has appealed the decision to Rome. Not only an inaccurate summary, but also a two-year old copy of an inaccurate summary. The Archbishop has been proven right on St. Stanislaus in spades.

"From his point of view, we are nonexistent," said the Rev. Marek Bozek, the church's pastor. "I find it wrong to perceive the world in white and black colors only. Unfortunately, he does. And we are wondering why the church is losing its people?" I am embarrassed that a Catholic priest would be allowed to be quoted saying these things.

[...]

"From the purely pastoral point of view, it's been nothing but good for us," Bozek said. "It has revitalized the parish. We are growing because people can't stand this any longer." I know (in other contexts) people who were, until very recently, parishioners of St. Stanislaus. They stuck with the Board for a good while, after the Board's intransigence caused themselves to be excommunicated latae sententiae. They have seen the fruits of disobedience, and tell me that the place is the home of every type of dissenter and that the "unifying" factor among the people there is no longer Polish heritage, but rather dissent from Church teaching. In short, it is home of "progressives", many of whom are not of Polish dissent. If this is the type of growth to which the excommunicated leadership points, it can have it.

There you have it. National media attention for our beloved Archbishop. If it is negative, we can rejoice. It means he is doing something right.

5 comments:

You're right. Had the WaPo praised him, the rest of us would have serious reason to wonder, given their track record. I love how they use the word "wrath," as if he sat on the cathedra and threw thunderbolts, rather than working day to day to shepherd the flock God has entrusted to him.

And was there not a story behind the hiring of the priest at the Polish parish that is interesting in its own right? Was he from Cape G. or Springfield?

Ok, here we go...We have one of the best bishops in the country! The bishop has the duty to preach the gospel in season and out of season. I don't understand why people will go to Mass and not follow the Churches teachings, and even better than that, call themselves Catholic.And another thing...What is all of this talk about conservative/liberal within the Church? There is NO such thing. You are either faithful, or not faithful to the teachings of the Church. If I was the bishop, "they" would get more than "wrath." If I had to answer for their souls....If you don't like the Church, than get out. But please quit acting like your something you NOT. Way to go Archbishop Burke! I would like to see more of this.

There is a factual error in your green commentary. Fr. Bozek is no longer a Catholic priest so he cannot speak as one. Your method of inserting your editorial comments into the article seems odd at best. You fail to mention that this is a land grab and abuse of the Polish community.

Thanks for your criticism. Fr. Bozek is a Catholic priest because ordination leaves an indelible mark on his soul. He cannot escape who he is despite his unfortunate and scandalous disobedience. He needs prayers for his soul.

This was a land grab and abuse of the Polish community, true, but the "grabbers" and "abusers" sit on the Board.

As for my method of inserting editorial comments in the article, feel free to do differently on your blog. I think I should get credit because my editorial comments are highlighted in green so the reader knows that they are editorial comments. If only newspapers adopted the same practice.